


Spooking Swindle

by Ayngelcat



Category: Transformers Generation One
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-27
Updated: 2012-10-27
Packaged: 2017-11-17 03:23:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/547097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ayngelcat/pseuds/Ayngelcat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for TF_Speedwriting Halloween Spam Weekend, this prompt: "A practical joke with a Halloween theme that doesn't turn out exactly as planned."</p><p>Summary: Vortex's 'schemes' don't always go as planned.</p><p>Content and Warnings: Spooky themes. Canon character death. No others.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Spooking Swindle

Standing on a chair, Vortex fiddled with the secret projector. Brawl was still confused. “Why are we doin’ this again?” he asked.  
  
“I told ya! To scare him witless!”  
  
“But why do we wanna scare Swindle?” Brawl asked. “He goes all awkward and difficult an’ won’t talk to us. Then he goes away and Ons gets mad.”  
  
“Yeah, I know …” Vortex grinned. “But it’s fun, ain’t it? Trust me.”  
  
Finishing his ministrations, Vortex pushed the projector back into its niche in the wall. “There! Now all we gotta do is get in position an' when he comes in, fire up the remote an’ prepare to laugh our boxes off!”  
  
Brawl nodded. He understood what was happening, at least. Swindle would come back, tired and cranky from his latest deliberations with the Quintessons. He would lay down on the berth, after pouring himself a well earned glass of high grade. And then – before he got too inebriated to make this a waste of time - Vortex would project _the image._  
  
And _the image_ was none other than a spectral form of the deceased Autobot Prowl, complete with a stern expression and wagging finger.  
  
Prowl had given Swindle the heebie jeebies in life, especially with his ‘interest' in some of the jeep’s unscrupulous activities. The enforcer was guaranteed, Vortex had assured Brawl, to terrify the scrap out of him as a ghost. This especially, given Swindle’s weird beliefs, his conviction that not only did ghosts exist, but he could sometimes see them; something which Vortex had scoffed at before, leading to a vitriolic argument which Onslaught himself had needed to resolve.  
  
Brawl and Vortex would watch Swindle's terror from an equally well hidden camera. It was a clever idea; although, as Brawl puzzled again, he still couldn’t really understand _why._ It seemed a lot of trouble to go to - especially given that when Onslaught found out, he'd belt the scrap out of Vortex. On the other hand, Vortex seemed to like getting Onslaught wound up. And there often wasn’t logic with the copter. Especially where Swindle was concerned.  
  
……..  
  
A little later, as they were sitting in the rec room, they saw Swindle pass the doorway. One glimpse told Brawl that things hadn’t gone well. His mouth turned down at the corners, his optics an angry shade. Brawl saw scratch marks on his chassis. Shoulders hunched, metal clanged as he stomped down the corridor in the direction of his room.  
  
Vortex waited for the footsteps to die away; then sprang up. “C’mon! This is it!”  
  
He started gleefully for the door, rotors quivering. Brawl followed, now wondering more than ever if this was a good idea because, oh hell, Swin really _hadn’t_ looked happy, and he was gonna be furious when he found out what this was, and he probably _would_ go away and leave them for a long time. And Brawl really didn’t want that – no matter how much fun the next few breems proved to be.  
  
“OK, you do the camera, I’ll control the projector!” Vortex said when they got to the cubby room where the control equipment was concealed. But before they could even go in, there was a shriek, followed by a loud wail and the sound of a door slamming. Running footsteps hammered in their direction.  
  
“Quick! Inside!” Vortex barked. But it was too late. Swindle had seen them. “HELP!!!” he cried, hurling himself to a stop and panting as he clutched the copter’s arm. “Vortex! You gotta do something. It’s - it's P-Prowl. He’s in my room.!”  
  
His face had gone a deathly shade of grey, his optics were terrified purple orbs. Brawl felt instantly guilty and putting his arm around the petrified jeep, wrenched him away from the copter. “It’s all right,” he said. “We’ll get the slagger!”

Yes – they could at least pretend to do that, given it was obvious that something had simply gone wrong with the projector. Swindle would be impressed - and happy again.  
  
Vortex was grinning at them both; yet a puzzled expression underlay the mirth. //I didn’t know you’d put a remote on the activation sequence,// he commed to Brawl. //Got a few hidden talents haven’t you? Heheh! You’re less of a technomoron than I thought. Though the point was....// his expression darkened. //It was gonna be fun to watch!//  
  
But Brawl was more confused than ever. "I didn’t,” he said out loud. “And I _am_ a techno-morowotsit.”  
  
As the smile disappeared from Vortex’s face, Swindle looked up, shaking. “You’d better watch it, Tex,” he wailed. “Prowl said he’s comin’ to get YOU!”  
  
Vortex turned away. _Slag._ That definitely wasn’t part of his carefully constructed image. And ghosts? He didn’t even believe in the fraggers. How you wasted one was anybody's guess. Why did things with Swindle always have to get complicated?  
  
He sighed. "C'mon," he said. "We'd better go check things out..."


End file.
